i'm john quinones. "what would you do" will be back here next week. you can connect with us any time. like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. that's our program for tonight. don't go any where. "20/20" starts right now. and now, abc's "20/20." >> reporter: tonight on "20/20," as the country falls in love with our olympic athletes in rio, consider this -- a story about this olympian, and her tale of love for sale in sin city. >> the energy of this place is palpable. >> yes. just being here i can feel it -- >> reporter: if it was female companionship you wanted, kelly lundy's was the best money could buy. >> why shouldn't i get paid for sex? >> reporter: at $600 an hour. >> first thing, first thing you

would do is come into the, the bathroom? >> and right over here would be the envelope. you'd thumbed through the hundreds. >> kelly had this power to attract men. >> reporter: but the bombshell, kelly really was suzy. suzy favor hamilton, a famous middle distance runner. and tif pitch woman running a secret double life. >> weren't you worried someone was going to recognize you and figure out that you were suzy favor hamilton? >> reporter: they did. >> i knew my life was probably over. >> suzy favor hamilton. >> working as a high price las vegas escort. >> from the all american girl, to the whore overnight. >> reporter: tonight, a golden girl pushed to the edge, three times at the olympics. >> get in front. >> postpartum depression, a marriage on the rocks. >> mark, i don't know how you could be okay with this. why you didn't get up and say, "you're crazy." >> reporter: so what turned an

olympic-class athlete into a vegas call girl? >> i know it wasn't suzy. it was the disease. >> reporter: and now, the race of her life. to get back on track. >> so many secrets, suzy. >> my life was filled with secrets. >> reporter: and tonight she's sharing them all. fast girl. good evening. i'm elizabeth vargas. >> and i'm david muir. with the summer olympics in full swing right now, someone who knows what the athletes are going through firsthand. suzy favor hamilton who competed in three games and had a different career after that. she laid it on the table with you. >> she absolutely did. the woman who was once on top in contention for the gold hit rock bottom and began a secret double life, one that exploded in headlines and almost destroyed her life. her book "fast girl" became a

"new york times" best seller. the question now, can she finally stop running? >> when i was a little girl, i would pretend i was a horse and i fit just like a horse galloping through the woods. >> reporter: suzy favor hamilton has been running for most of her life. >> running took me away from everything. >> reporter: the question has always been to where and from what? >> reporter: stevens point, wisconsin, in the early 1970s blessed with prodigious talent and laser-focused drive, young suzy emerges as a local sports hero. colleges around the country flock to recruit her. she was recruited by 200 colleges to come run. >> that's crazy. i mean, everyone wanted her. everyone wanted suzy. she was that good. >> reporter: she chooses to stay close to home, signing with the university of wisconsin at madison.

>> i choose wisconsin because i feel they have a great coach. >> from wisconsin down the homestretch. >> reporter: at wisconsin, her collegiate career is nothing short of meteoric. this race her freshman year made everyone take notice. watch as she hurtles head first across the finish line for the win. >> suzy favor is the winner. >> she was fantastic. she won everything in college. she's a midwestern girl from wisconsin. >> the perky little young lady takes over and dominates the women's race. >> she was it. >> reporter: with her parent's proud support -- >> she is determined. a very determined person. >> reporter: the victories and trophies keep piling up. >> reporter: what made you special as a runner? >> ip was known as a kick.

i was always able to outkick them. i could always outsprint them. so that was -- that is -- you're born with that talent. either you have it or you don't. >> suzy favor will win -- >> reporter: how did you feel watching her? proud? >> yeah, absolutely. just very proud. it was pretty cool. >> reporter: mark hamilton, who plays baseball at wisconsin begins dating suzy their freshman year. and as an athlete yourself, in awe of her? >> a little bit. a little bit. she just never lost. >> favor wins it, jones is second. >> you did perfect, sweetheart. perfect, just perfect. >> reporter: but all that perfection had come with a staggering price, a crushing anxiety to win. >> the community, my hometown was all watching me, they were all expecting me to win. >> reporter: and that was nothing compared to the pressure suzy was feeling at home. >> when i'm racing i'm really focused. i mean, i want to win. >> reporter: this abc news feature from 1990 paints a glowing portrait of suzy and her family. >> an old saturday evening post cover comes to life.

>> reporter: but these images don't reveal the hidden pain afflicting the family. suzy's brother dan suffered from bipolar disorder, his behavior was often erratic and frightening. how did that affect the family? >> it was very difficult. i didn't understand his behavior. >> reporter: for years suzy believed her success on the track was the one thing that alleviated her parents' suffering. victory was the only option. >> because if i won for my family, everybody would be happy. and we would be perfect. and it would take the pain away from what is happening with my brother. >> reporter: what was your drive? define it. explain it. >> my drive was an obsession. so that obsession was to train every day, as hard as i could. and it kept building into bad behaviors. i developed an eating disorder. because if i was thinner and lighter, i perceived that i would run faster. >> reporter: you just paint this picture of such anxiety, secret anxiety and insecurity.

>> right. oh, my gosh, beyond insecure. you're not happy with your body. >> reporter: those body image issues mushroom when suzy learns that someone on the athletic staff videotaped her breasts as she ran. >> it was devastating. it was another reminder, "your body isn't good enough. >> reporter: you didn't look like other runners. you were more voluptuous. >> i didn't look like the ideal runner. so i had to look that part. >> reporter: later that insecurity would compel suzy to undergo breast reduction surgery. >> i mean to go to all these extremes to be that one person, my whole life was just to be a runner. >> reporter: fortunately, mark is there, now not only as a boyfriend, but as a much-needed voice of reason. mark was also the first person to really get you to look seriously at your bulimia. >> yes. he basically told me, i don't want to be with you if you're

not going to eat healthy enter be healthy. >> reporter: with mark's help suzy overcomes her eating disorders and her college career becomes one for the ages. >> i won nine ncaa titles. >> reporter: nobody'd ever done that? >> nobody had ever done that. >> reporter: you were the most decorated runner -- >> uh-huh. >> reporter: in history, in college history. it is a time of hope and optimism. mark and suzy get married the week after graduation. and her coach is convinced that olympic glory is in her near future. >> if she does make the olympic team, she will be a force to be reckoned with. >> suzy hamilton. >> reporter: as the olympics approach, suzy is fast becoming a darling of madison avenue as well as madison, wisconsin. for corporate america, the glamorous, bubbly blond was already solid gold. endorsements from shampoo and shoe companies come quickly. >> so that was putting this extra pressure on. >> reporter: to do what, though? >> to make the next olympic team, and to win a gold medal. because that's what the companies were banking on.

that's what they were paying me, the sponsorships. they thought i could get the olympic gold. >> reporter: in 1992 suzy walks into a packed stadium in barcelona, right along side dream teamer magic johnson. her moment has arrived, but suzy is not there to meet it. you didn't get any sleep at all before your first olympic run. >> first olympics, no sleep to a point of -- enormous anxiety just building. >> reporter: tough to get yourself in a right frame of mind to go out there and run the race of your life. >> right. not gonna happen. >> reporter: and it didn't happen. >> yeah, it didn't happen. >> reporter: so, in 1996 there she was in atlanta for her second go at the gold. or did you try and say, "okay, this time don't -- don't attach so much to this, don't carry the world on your shoulders"?

>> yeah, and that kinda -- it was in atlanta. and she wound up just running the 800 meters, which wasn't her best event. >> reporter: once again she doesn't medal. but despite her failures, suzy continues to rack up the magazine covers and to earn like a champion. >> and then i started to hear from my critics, other runners, that, "she's getting paid too much, and she's not even running these fast times." >> reporter: but the 2000 olympics offer one more chance to prove her doubters wrong. and soon, with mark supporting her all the way, suzy is back on top, capturing titles in the u.s. and abroad. then in 1999, tragedy strikes after years struggling with bipolar disorder, suzy's brother dan commits suicide. >> she was devastated, of course. but she wanted to do something, for the family. make everybody happy. how is she gonna rescue things? that's the way she looked at it. she was devastated, but her focus changed quite quickly. >> reporter: determined to win in his honor, suzy heads to the sydney games, hoping to capture that elusive olympic gold.

>> but the pressure that this woman had on her shoulders, in large part because she was seen as the next great one. >> and at the starting line, i felt the whole entire world was watching me. >> reporter: the whole world was watching and what it was about to witness would change suzy's life forever. >> suzy favor hamilton in distress. >> it doesn't look good. >> reporter: stay with us. th my, with myself, with my life. it all starts with a healthy routine. that's why i'm taking the activia two week probiotic challenge by enjoying activia yogurt with billions of probiotics every day. because when my routine is in sync, i can face any challenge. so take the activia probiotic challenge! visit activia.com to learn more. take the activia probiotic challenge now. it works or it's free! school lunch can be difficult. cafeteria chaos.

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one of the medal favorite, suzy favor hamilton. >> reporter: it's suzy favor hamilton's last ditch attempt at greatness. she's at the starting line at the women's 1500 in sydney olympics. christine brennan was there. >> so now, 2000, she's mature. she's been around before. she knows the drill at the olympic games. and she is the favorite. >> at the starting line, i felt the whole entire world was watching me, everybody in the world. i had just lost my brother the year before to suicide. and i was feeling enormous pressure to win, again, for my family, to take that pain away. and i had just put favor back in my name to honor my brother. >> reporter: pre race jitters quickly turn to self doubt. what is it like to walk out and see that -- a crowd that big, a stadium that big?

>> it's 120,000 people. they're screaming. they're yelling. you've never heard sound like this ever before. all this pressure, this pressure is yours. you own the moment. >> reporter: or you don't. >> when i got to the starting line, i just wanted to vanish. can this nightmare be over? this is the worst thing in the entire world. and suzy, you're an idiot for not speaking up. i couldn't tell anybody. >> reporter: couldn't tell them what? >> i couldn't tell them, i don't wanna be in this race. >> reporter: the starting gun goes off. >> yeah. >> reporter: how does she look? >> she's up front. >> the gun went off, i took off, which is not the thing you wanna do in olympic final. you wanna hang back, let somebody else do the work. >> i thought she had it. >> i thought that suzy favor hamilton was finally gonna win her olympic gold medal. >> i'm leading the race, which i can't believe, and in total panic, total anxiety panic attack with 200 meters to go. it's like running with cement blocks on your legs. >> i think you start seeing her

form disappear with about 250 to go. and with 200 to go, you can see, you just know what's coming. >> and one after another after another are passing her. and it's -- you can just tell it's over. she's not gonna be first. she's not gonna be second. she's not gonna be third. >> and that dream of having an olympic medal was gone. and instead of finishing the race, like most runners would, i told myself, "just fall." >> in the home straight away. and suzy favor hamilton has fallen down. >> reporter: under the pitiless gaze of the television cameras, suzie favor hamilton collapses -- tumbling to the red turf. >> i was just worried about her. >> reporter: did you think she'd been hurt? >> i just thought, she is in pain. >> reporter: she faints as her fellow runners try to help.

it is a performance worthy not of olympic gold but of oscar gold. it was all an act. >> i pretended i was injured. and i remember thinking, again, you're the worst person in the world. look at what you just did. you blew it. you're an idiot. >> reporter: how long did you keep the story alive that you were injured and not that you deliberately fell? >> for a long time. a long, long time. >> what was waiting for her at that finish line in sydney, should she cross first, the tv shows, the parade, the commercials. >> reporter: cereal box covers. >> yes. oh, wheaties, you name it. it was all there for her. she cannot get there. for every athlete who wins an olympic medal, there's an athlete that's put on the discard pile who we never hear from again. >> reporter: suzy returns to wisconsin. beaten and ashamed she's a runner turned recluse. did you feel humiliated? >> yes. i was so embarrassed. i didn't want anybody to see me. i had a hat on. i couldn't even go my grocery store for -- gosh, it took me weeks before i could leave the

house. >> reporter: suzy begins to slide into depression. years go by as husband and wife attempt to embrace a lower profile in america's heartland. it is a daily struggle. suzy, the one time cover girl, is now reduced to a single image on the couple's website for their local real estate business. it is a job she dreads and the stress from it strains the marriage. although, there is joy in the family when suzy gets pregnant and gives birth to daughter kylie. >> so i was just so thrilled to be a mother. besides getting married, this was the best moment of my life. >> reporter: but even motherhood is not enough to keep suzy from sliding into a deep dark place. >> it got unhealthy pretty quickly, where she had to hold kylie all the time. she couldn't let her go. she couldn't go out of the house. she'd become really irritable.

>> reporter: what did it look like? >> ugly. it was just anger. i saw anger for the first time in her. and i saw her just withdrawn. and that's not her. >> reporter: outside the home -- suzy's trademark smile is evident at speaking engagements and appearances at local sports camps. but once again, it is all an act. mark insists his wife get medical help and after some trial and error with various antidepressants, suzy believes she's found one that works. zoloft. >> it did not take long for zoloft to make me feel really good. and not just good. really good. i'm talking amazingly good. >> reporter: what were you doing that was out of character? >> i was so outgoing. like, over the top outgoing. reporter: things continue to decay on the homefront. when mark and suzy aren't fighting, they aren't speaking.

had the two of you lost your spark, your attraction for each other? >> oh, yeah -- yeah. i was not very attracted to my wife, and i know she felt the same. >> we needed a spark to the relationship. >> reporter: suzy suggests a trip to las vegas for the couples 20th anniversary. but she has something more in mind than slots and the celine dion show. first, a day of skydiving. >> i had no desire to jump out of an airplane. >> reporter: but the new and improved suzy is surprisingly game. >> the moment i fell out of that airplane, i felt like, "this is my element." >> reporter: number two on suzy's list is less exotic and more erotic. a threesome with a female escort. >> so we decided,"well, why don't we try a threesome?" >> reporter: a threesome? >> yeah, it was something we had talked about. >> reporter: forgive me, but that's not on most people's bucket list. >> it was more me than him. >> caught me off guard. >> reporter: was any part of you shocked?

>> absolutely. absolutely. two things i never thought we would do, you know, quite frankly. >> reporter: at this point, mark is willing to try anything to save the marriage and agrees to the night of taboo. so you're in the hotel room, and there's a knock on the door >> yeah. >> reporter: what's going through your mind? >> scared to death. >> reporter: really? >> yeah, just nervous as all get out. >> she comes in. dressed in, you know, just casually dressed. looks like the girl next door. and it -- it was a fun, great experience. >> reporter: you had only in your whole life sexually been with your husband. >> absolutely. >> reporter: what was it like to have this other woman and this hour in bed with the three of you? >> it felt like i was living life and i, kind of, felt like, why isn't everybody else doing this? why isn't everybody living life to the fullest? >> reporter: the couple pays a hefty sum to live one night "to the fullest" and eventually returns to wisconsin. mark thinks it was just a one-time experience and is happy to return home.

but suzy is hooked. suzy has glimpsed a whole new world of sex, money, and freedom. and for her, the risky business is just beginning. that one sexual experience launched you to another stratosphere. >> right, why shouldn't i get paid for sex? this would be fun. >> reporter: stay with us. one pint-sized hero pwas on a mission.vor, looks like somebody's gotta save snack time from a serious case of boring. watch babybel's big taste leap into action in

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you may write me down in history, with your bitter, twisted lies. you may trod me in the very dirt, but still like dust, i rise. you can shoot me with your words... you can cut me with your lies... you can kill me with your hatefulness. but still, like air... we rise. i notin the human family.ences some of us are serious, some thrive on comedy. i've sailed upon the seven seas and stopped in every land, i've seen the wonders of the world not yet one common man. i know ten thousand women called jane and mary jane,

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"20/20" continues with fast girl. once again, elizabeth vargas. >> reporter: after celebrating her anniversary with a menage a trois in a las vegas hotel, suzy favor hamilton returns home to wisconsin, but her heart is still back in nevada. >> after that first trip to vegas, something changed, something clicked. >> right. i came back and it was such an extreme, so slow going back to my ordinary life. >> reporter: within months the need to feel that euphoric high is too much.

she announces to mark that she must return, this time alone. >> i'm not gonna lie. she had to sell it. she's gonna do what she's gonna do, to an extent. i don't think i had a heck of a lot of say, but at least she's not cheating on me. >> reporter: and suzy doesn't just want a replay of the first experience. now she wants to dial up the heat. you arranged to see a male escort -- >> yes. it ended up being the most fabulous experience. i had never had sex with another man besides my husband. i remember telling him, you're the second guy i've ever had sex with. and he said, "oh, my gosh, what a waste. you need to do this more." and, i was hooked. i was hooked. >> reporter: vegas, now her drug of choice, the only antidote that will quiet the crushing depression. suzy can't go without a regular visit there. at some point, you pick up a man in a bar and have sex and realize, "i don't have to pay for sex." >> right. >> reporter: how do you then make the jump to, i will get paid for sex?

>> and that was the light bulb moment in head. wow, well, why shouldn't i get paid for sex? this guy does, the escort. this would be fun. >> reporter: did you run this by mark? >> i had talked to him. and all he thinks is, she wants to sample this. she will do it once. she will be done. >> she would try to calm my fears. "mark, this is safe. mark, you have no idea, i've -- have this completely under control, these are wealthy, well-to-do, well-known people. nothing's going to happen." >> reporter: mark, i don't know how anybody can understand how you didn't get up and say, "i'm leaving you. this is crazy." >> yeah. sometimes i wonder that too, to be perfectly honest. it's what i did though. i tuned out. you live your life, i live my life. >> reporter: and so it comes to pass that wife, mother, and

three-time olympian suzy favor hamilton picks up a phone and dials jamie rodman, the owner of a successful escort website/service. >> she had called me, and said she wanted to try escorting. i knew she had a husband. she kept insisting, "no, no, he's fine. he's fine with it." >> reporter: so very quickly you begin working. under the pseudonym of kelly lundy. >> yes. >> reporter: "kelly lundy" advertises her services on jamie's website with these alluring photos. her price, $600 an hour. this is what you wrote on your web page. "i try my best to bring elegance and class to the table, and will dress appropriately for any occasion. i enjoy men of all shapes, sizes and colors, and i have an affinity for women as well. i am bisexual." >> right. >> reporter: the clients respond instantly. and mark is there in vegas the first time his wife heads off to her new job. on her very first gig working as a paid escort -- you're there watching her get dressed and get ready. >> correct. yeah.

i know what she's doing. it bothers me. i've raised my objections, she's gonna do it anyway. >> reporter: one of the most arresting aspects of this double-life story is that the two lives are playing out almost simultaneously. after her first sexual rendezvous, escort "kelly lundy" slips out of her dress, quickly changes into her running gear and sprints across the strip to appear as suzy favor hamilton, the track star, at a local fund-raiser, the rock and roll stiletto dash. suzy sails through the finish line in her rhinestone studded bra from her escorting appointment and on it went, suzy in sneakers at celebrity appearances in the morning, kelly in stilettos at night. >> one day i had run a half marathon in the morning, in a different state, hopped on an airplane, got to vegas, had five appointments. >> reporter: when you say five appointments, you mean five. >> five different clients. i saw -- >> reporter: you slept with five different men?

>> that day. still after the five appointments, endless energy. couldn't sleep. >> reporter: the extreme becomes the routine. appointments scheduled through text with little information other than a room number and a time. we brought suzy to vegas where she showed us her secret world. first thing you would do is come into the bathroom? >> yes. and right over here would be the envelope with the $100. >> reporter: just by the sink? >> hundreds. yup, i would open the envelope and thumb through the hundreds. it was, like, this magical, powerful force. it just kinda propelled me. >> reporter: the hypersexuality is what led you to not only get dressed up, knock on these men's doors, go into a room by yourself with them. >> right. >> reporter: but then to almost immediately disrobe. take off your dress -- >> right. absolutely. >> reporter: and be the aggressor. sexually. >> right. right. >> reporter: suzy's book describes the encounters in unflinching detail. suzy, i have to say, as i read

your book. i feel scared for you. i feel worried for your safety. >> absolutely. the danger. i mean, i could've easily been killed. easily. suzy would never have gone in that room. never in a million years. but when you become a different person, this other person wanted that risk. >> reporter: why do you talk about your behavior then like you're talking about a different person, a third person? >> because kelly was a different person. >> reporter: but beneath all kelly's glitz, the competitive spirit for the girl still burns. when she learns there is an escort called the erotic review, ranking the escorts, she fixates of being number one. >> how do i get to the top? >> she truly was enthusiastic about what she was doing. for her it was more a passion. it wasn't a job. she wasn't doing it for money. >> reporter: to win the medal in this arena, she has to look the part. so the transformation progresses, the hair gets

blonder, the dresses shorter, the lashes longer. >> here i am in all my glory. i am now kelly and ready to hit the scene. >> reporter: meanwhile back in wisconsin, mark is thrust into becoming a single parent, desperately trying to protect his daughter from her mother's scandalous double life. >> she was impossible to deal with. and after a while, when it got to a certain point, after months of this, i was like, "go. get out of the house. let kylie and i have our normal life." >> reporter: are you surprised he didn't leave you? >> yeah. extremely, many times. but what he's told me is he kept remembering who i used to be, the wife that i was, the mom. >> reporter: the fantasy plays out for months. lost in her alternate universe of hedonism and decadence, kelly's grip on reality starts slipping. she gets careless, forgetting

personal items in client's rooms and breaking the cardinal rule of escorting, telling a few customers her real name. weren't you worried someone was going to recognize you and figure out that you were suzy favor hamilton? >> i was completely delusional. >> i'm saying, "you're crazy." i'm saying, "it's your funeral." "do you understand the risk?" i'm saying all this stuff. >> reporter: mark's warning falls on deaf ears. in her mind kelly is invincible. >> i wanted my independence. since i had been an athlete i was so coachable. everybody always told me what to do. >> reporter: everything had been planned your entire day -- >> my entire life. >> reporter: -- your entire life. >> i was free now. whatever it took, whatever risk, i was gonna do it. >> reporter: but any gambler will tell you, luck can't last forever. and now, in an instant, reality is about to crash through the door. >> i wanted to just die at that moment, 'cause i knew my life was probably over. >> reporter: stay with us.

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>> reporter: it's a warm

december friday in las vegas. suzy favor hamilton is spending thanksgiving break here with her daughter, kylie, and her husband, mark. and the worst day her life begins on an up note. >> i was working for the was doing an appearance on stage, kinda motivating the crowd and getting 'em psyched up for the race. >> reporter: but something's not right. while her daughter kylie is on stage, suzy leaps up and begins a frenzied, spastic display which is downright disturbing. >> i was dancing and yelling, and just being crazy. and people were walking by, and staring at me, going, "wow, there's something wrong with that woman." >> and, and it absolutely flabbergasted me, what i saw. it was like what on earth? >> reporter: were you embarrassed? >> i was embarrassed. and i took kylie out of there.

>> reporter: the wheels were coming off the cart. >> the wheels were coming off, yes. >> reporter: suzy is oblivious. as soon as the event concludes, she locks her attention onto a text she receives, a client confirming an appointment with suzy's alter ego "kelly lundy," the high-priced las vegas escort, currently ranked number 2 on the erotic review. but before she can resume her fantasy life, reality intrudes. >> and i'm waiting for the elevator, and i hear this man go, "hey, suzy." and i'm like, oh, it's just another runner and maybe they want an autograph. but then i turn to look at him, and he didn't look like a runner. >> reporter: no, in fact he looks exactly like who he is, investigative journalist william bastone, co-founder of thesmokinggun.com. and he's got the goods. according to suzy, bastone tells her he's spoken with several of her clients. he's also matched the dates of kelly's availabilities with suzy's public appearances, and read the glowing reviews from kelly's satisfied customers. >> and i just -- i about wanted to just die at that moment,

'cause i knew. i knew my life was probably over. >> reporter: finally, the moment her husband had warned her would happen. a warning she heard repeatedly and methodically ignored. >> i'd been saying for a month, this will happen. i even said, somebody's going to show up at one of these events. >> reporter: what did you say to kylie at that point? >> i told her there's something wrong with your mom. that's not your mom. you know that's not your mom. she's a good person. we're gonna figure this out eventually. >> reporter: did it scare her? >> a little bit. yeah, i had done a really good job -- oh, [ bleep ]. i'm sorry. >> reporter: you'd done a good job protecting -- >> protecting kylie from seeing that. but i'd -- she saw that. >> reporter: and she knew. >> she knew somethin' was wrong. >> reporter: two weeks later,

the story hits with the force of a freight train. >> suzy favor hamilton. >> suzy favor hamilton. >> suzy favor hamilton was working as a high priced las vegas escort. >> one of the strangest stories we have seen. >> this is unbelievable that my life has, went from the all american girl to the whore overnight like that. >> i saw a headline online. and i clicked on it. and i just could not believe what i was reading. >> reporter: in wisconsin, her father's advice, leave the country and change her name. >> i honestly felt at that time we weren't gonna be together much longer. >> reporter: that you were gonna be divorced? >> we were gonna be divorced. it was just a matter of time. >> reporter: as bad as things were, the worst was still to come. >> there was so much hate mail pouring in. like, the first day mark got 600 emails. and --

>> reporter: what were people saying? >> "your wife's a slut, your wife's a whore. you need to leave her." it said, "you need to kill yourself like your brother did." >> reporter: worried that suzy might do just that, mark calls the family doctor. >> she got help within the next few days, talked to a psychiatrist. >> reporter: finally, the question of how this all happened is answered. suzy is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. the same mental illness that afflicted her brother, characterized by a period of extreme manic euphoria, followed by crushing depression. in this case, suzy from wisconsin was the depressed persona. kelly from las vegas was the manic. so, all of the pieces -- >> -- suddenly make sense. >> reporter: were you surprised to find out that you were bipolar? >> completely shocked. >> reporter: why? your brother had suffered from it. >> i wasn't educated on is illness. it wasn't talked about in our family. >> reporter: and one other key insight. one of suzy's doctors, claudia

reardon, explained that anti-depressants can help some people with bipolar. but it can compound the symptoms. >> you give them an antidepressant and it lifts their mood. but they don't have as much of a ceiling on their mood and so it can push their mood too high. we often see symptoms such as hyper sexuality, spending lots of money, engaging in lots of reckless kinds of behaviors because people generally aren't in the state of mind to think through ahead to the consequences of those kinds of behaviors. >> i would never have become an escort if i wasn't on the drug that made me hypersexual. but i also know that i was having sex for money. so i'm not pinning it on bipolar and looking at that as the excuse. >> reporter: it has taken years of therapy, medication, and determination for suzy to control her mental illness and

confront the horror of her past. >> i take full responsibility for what i did. >> reporter: just getting through our shoot in las vegas, a place she calls one of her primary triggers, is an accomplishment in itself. >> so kelly doesn't exist anymore. she's gone. she can't come back. >> reporter: and yet the ghost of "kelly lundy" still lingers. suzy hasn't thrown out her vegas outfits. so, vegas bag. >> this is where i have all my kelly things. >> reporter: this bag is $2,000? >> some gift. it's a gift. >> reporter: this is a dress? how high did this come on you? >> this came -- see. very short. and it reminds me of this kelly and the sex and all the crazy things she did. and --

that -- that is to get -- to get a point where you don't feel shame is a lot of work. >> reporter: clearly, though, you still have -- >> i have lots of pain from it. lots of pain. and that's normal. i'll always have pain from it. but i know it wasn't suzy. i keep trying to emphasize that wasn't me. it was the disease. and how many other people are going through this. and they can't reach out because their society shames them. >> reporter: there's some part of you inside still feel that shame? >> i don't feel one ounce of shame. i do not feel shame. i refuse to let the act ruin me. >> reporter: then why are you crying? >> because i'm upset for the people that i hurt. i hurt so many people.

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"20/20" continues with fast girl. >> reporter: today, suzy favor hamilton is trying to pack up her past and move on. the family has picked up from wisconsin, the site of so much glory, but too much baggage, and moved to california. but not before one last visit to the university of wisconsin track for a walk down these memory lanes. >> i can actually see myself running and the same feeling -- i can actually put myself in that day. you know, i look back and i wish -- i just wish i could have enjoyed it more. you know -- >> reporter: that's so sad. >> it is sad.

but the gift is i am where i am today. and a happy frame of mind. >> reporter: that frame of mind guided her to pen a new york times best seller about her life. >> i'm talking to you now with strength and confidence. and now setting an example for people to follow that i truly believe is more important than a gold medal. and that example is the strength to persevere, the strength to overcome destruction. >> reporter: put your life back together, to pick yourself up and dust yourself off. >> right. and if i can do this just think of all the other people who can change their life too. >> suzy did a lot of amazing things on the track. this might be the greatest thing she has done. >> reporter: telling her story? >> telling her story. she is absolutely, positively going to help girls who are struggling right now.

>> reporter: or millions of people suffering with mental disease. >> well, exactly. >> reporter: we caught up with the hamiltons in california after their move. suzy now finding joy in simple pleasures. daughter kylie's diving lesson. soccer with the family. and art. and through all the change, one constant, mark, still running the real estate business, still determined to make their marriage get back on track. >> you saved me. >> we had an amazing marriage, i thought. perfect. it was a great marriage. >> reporter: do you think you'll ever get back to that place? >> ah. i think we have a chance. we're working on it. >> reporter: do you know how lucky you are that he stuck by you? >> i am one of the luckiest people ever to have somebody who cares about you so much that he didn't care about any of the ramifications that came towards

him because of my behavior. >> reporter: today suzy can be found not on a running track, or the las vegas strip, but up here in the canyons of malibu. >> this is one place you can go to totally get away from the world. >> reporter: her feet and her mind have stopped racing. at long last, the fast girl has learned to slow down. >> i have been through a lot, and the only way that i wanna go my advice for looking younger, longer? pam. this, this is pam's. try not to take things personally.

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i don't see cake, i just see mess. it's like awful. it feels like i am not actually cleaning it up what's that make mommy do? (doorbell) what's that? swiffer wetjet. so much stuff coming up. this is amazing woah. wow. now i feel more like making a mess is part of growing up. stop cleaning. start swiffering. >> reporter: one step at a time. and a happy piece of news, suzy tells us this past may, she renewed her wedding vows with mark with her daughter performing the ceremony on the beach. >> you can watch "20/20" any time. i'm david muir. >> i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us from abc news and "20/20," have a great night and a great weekend. a hubd pounds fell 50

feet. >> the tree branch that came crashing down. >> the